Sudoku Classic

Genre: Sudoku Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

Sudoku Classic is a Puzzle game released on Nintendo Switch in 2021. It looks like there was another game with the same title released on mobile devices in 2008, but as far as I can tell, the two have nothing in common other than being, well, Sudoku videogames. This Sudoku game is a new entry in the genre from developer G-Mode.

Those who read through my Sudoku game reviews will have undoubtedly seen my reviews of earlier Sudoku games by this developer. They’re the folks who make the Sudoku Relax series (for reference, here is my review of Sudoku Relax 5). This is a series that has frustrated me for a while, not because it’s terrible, but because it has the potential to be great, but falls short due to multiple issues, including a lack of content, and over-aggressive automation that makes the games far too easy. But more than these flaws, I have been constantly frustrated by these games because of their developer’s refusal or inability to change the games and improve them in any noticeable way, across five installments. Sudoku Relax 5 even won eShopperReviews’ Laziest Copycat of 2020 award for being such a lazy, copy-pasted replica of its predecessor, which itself was a replica of the prior games.

I’m pleased to say that G-Mode seems to have listened to my complaints, as Sudoku Classic acts as something of a clean break and a fresh start for the developer’s Sudoku games, as this game addresses numerous issues I had with the prior games, while retaining many of those games’ good qualities. Unfortunately, it does so while adding in some new problems.

First, the good news: Sudoku Classic controls great, whether you’re using a gamepad or touchscreen. After a brief period of adjustment, the controls here feel natural. I will add the caveat that having to double-tap on entries when using the touchscreen is a bit annoying, but mostly this game is an example for other games in the genre to follow for how to do good controls in a Sudoku game on Nintendo Switch.

While this was true in G-Mode’s earlier Sudoku games, there are other positive changes here too. Where the earlier games automated the difficulty out of the game, Sudoku Classic lets players set their own rules and determine how much and what sort of assistance they want. Unfortunately, the menus for selecting these rules are extremely clunky, hard to navigate, and poorly-localized, making them something of a confusing mess. Because of this, you’ll likely have to fiddle around with these settings for a while before finding settings you’re happy with.

The other change here is one of content. This game still only offers 300 puzzles across multiple difficulties and three cloying, repetitive songs to listen to, and that’s all to be expected from a G-Mode-developed Sudoku game. What goes above and beyond prior titles, however, is that players can now unlock numerous different background skins to look at while playing, each offering some nice lighting and shadow effects, and players can further alter the game’s look by changing the look of the number-select indicator at the side. Unfortunately, while these new backgrounds look great, and I’m very pleased that this game offers more options in this regard, those nice lighting and shadow effects also have the unfortunate side-effect of making the numbers on the board much more difficult to see.

So once again, I’m frustrated by a G-Mode Sudoku game, but this time it’s not because they’re being lazy and refusing to change, but because in Sudoku Classic I see they’re clearly trying to address the long-running problems their games have had, but their way of doing so is a “two steps forward, one step back” sorta’ deal that solves some of the old problems while adding some new ones. This is still one of the best Sudoku games on the Nintendo Switch, but it’s far from ideal, and it needs work on a lot of these issues. I just hope we don’t have to go through another five installments before these new issues are addressed.

tl;dr – Sudoku Classic is a Sudoku game from G-Mode, the makers of the Sudoku Relax series. This game addresses many of the long-standing issues I had with that series, though it introduces multiple new ones – namely, a clunky and confusing menu interface and visuals that make the puzzles harder to see. On balance, it’s still better than the prior games, and one of the better Sudoku games on the Nintendo Switch, but it still has a lot of problems keeping it from being as good as it could be.

Grade: C+

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